Psychoanalysis

5 Reasons Why Psychoanalysis Is One of The Best Treatments For Early Childhood Trauma

“The impact of early childhood trauma is that much more pronounced later in life precisely because there have never been words to describe or capture the traumatic experience. Usually, in psychoanalytic psychotherapy, one can begin to unravel the layers of the experience, slowly and often through speaking about the current symptoms that bother you or your body, which may include anxiety, substance use, self-injurious behavior, psycho-somatic symptoms, etc.”

Therapy Wars: The Revenge of Freud

Cheap and effective, CBT became the dominant form of therapy, consigning Freud to psychology’s dingy basement. But new studies have cast doubt on its supremacy – and shown dramatic results for psychoanalysis. Is it time to get back on the couch? An interesting read by Oliver Burkeman from The Guardian.

Therapist to Patient: “What I hear is….”

“Different physicians have different expertise, and they apply this expertise differently,” he said. “The therapist-patient fit is important, and recognizing empathetic opportunities and responding appropriately is an important part of this.”

Narayanan compares therapist evaluations to drug trials: We test the efficacy of drugs to understand what works, when and for whom. So it makes sense to objectively evaluate the efficacy of therapists. Such evaluations can improve psychotherapy, as well as the therapist-patient fit.

“If you want truly personalized health care, it’s not just in pharmaceutical care but also in psychological care,” Narayanan said.

When Boundaries Create Freedom

In this prosaic piece from the New Yorker, Esther Sperber considers the nature of the ‘therapeutic frame’ and the way in which it creates the freedom necessary to explore our simplest and most complex feelings:

“Why am I sharing this small story? Perhaps because I love that psychoanalysis is a frame through which I have permission to pay close attention to peripheral vision, to things that are out of focus and not so conscious. Enigmatic dreams, childhood memories and mourning are all welcome, and they open me to my own feelings and to a wider range of human experiences.”